Holocaust: 29 Diplomats Who Made a Difference

The book is called “Diplomat Heroes of the Holocaust,” and perhaps the most telling thing about it is that it is very slim.

Richard C. Holbrooke, former ambassador to the United Nations, made that point during a ceremony, held Jan. 24 at Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s East Side, to mark the book’s publication.

During the years of Nazi persecution and then mass murder of Jews, Mr. Holbrooke noted, Europe’s embassies and consulates were filled with thousands of officials, but very few of them proved willing to toss aside protocol and instructions to save the lives of people threatened with death in the camps.

“Diplomat Heroes of the Holocaust” is a documentary record of 29 exceptions. It was written by Mordecai Paldiel, director of the department at Yad Vashem — the main Holocaust memorial museum in Israel — that designates non-Jewish rescuers of Jews with the honorific title Righteous Among the Nations.